Wonderful Words of Woe

In one paragraph

Pastor Nathan opened with a tour through the Bible's lists of "woes," then landed on the seven woes Jesus delivered to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, just days before the crucifixion. The sermon pressed the congregation to read those woes not as ancient criticism of distant religious leaders but as a mirror held up to anyone who claims to follow God. The good news at the end is that the...

Read together

1. Matthew 23 the primary text for the sermon, source of the seven woes to scribes and Pharisees
2. Luke 11 source of the six woes Jesus spoke to Pharisees and lawyers
3. Isaiah 5 source of six woes including greed, drunkenness, deceit, blasphemy, self-righteousness
4. Habakkuk 2:6-20 source of five woes including usury, evil profit, violence, drunkenness, and idolatry
5. Hosea 6 quoted twice already in Matthew, I desire mercy not sacrifice
6. Isaiah 30 in repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you were not willing
7. Psalm 118 source of blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, seen at the triumphal entry
8. Deuteronomy 18 Moses said the people should be looking for the prophet, the taheb
9. Ezekiel 34 woe to bad shepherds who eat the sheep rather than care for them
10. 1 Timothy 1:12 Paul thanks Christ who considered him faithful despite being a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent aggressor
11. James 3:1 do not let many of you be teachers, referenced in connection with woe to bad shepherds

Talk about it

1. Pastor Nathan worked through a long list of woes from Isaiah, Habakkuk, Luke, and Matthew before getting to the seven in Matthew 23. Which woe from any of those lists caught you off guard or felt most personally uncomfortable, and why?
2. Pastor Nathan said that most of the biblical woes were directed at insiders, people who claimed to be the people of God, rather than outsiders. What does that tell us about how God expects those of us who know the scriptures to live?
3. On the second woe, Pastor Nathan talked about the danger of converting people to our opinion rather than to Christ, and said that two generations after Calvin and two generations after Arminius, the original point gets unrecognizable. Where do you see that pattern playing out today, and how do we guard against it?
4. The woe at the center of the seven is about straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel, what Pastor Nathan called a fundamental failure to discern the thrust of scripture. In your own reading of the Bible, what helps you stay focused on the main point rather than getting lost in the details?
5. Pastor Nathan closed with Paul's words in 1 Timothy 1, that Paul considered himself the foremost of sinners and yet was shown mercy so that others could see what God's patience looks like. How does that picture of Paul change the way you think about your own failures and the woes that might apply to you?